Sheet-gage for printing-presses.



Patented Feb. 8,1916. 2 SHEETS-SHEET 1,.

illlll L. L. ROGERS.

SHEET GAGE FOR PRINTING PRESSES.

APPLICATION FILED IAN- 28.1915. 1 170,994.

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L. L. ROGERS.

SHEET GAGE FOR PRINTING PRESSES.

APPLICATION FILED JAN-28.1915.

Patented lieb. 8, 1916. 2 SHEETS-SHEET 2 8 run Moe THE COLUMBIAPLANOGRAPH co.. \VASHINuAQn, u.

LEWIS L. ROGERS, OF CHANGE, MASSACHUSETTS.

SHEET-GAGE FOR PRINTING-PRESSES,

Specification of LettersPatent.

Patented Feb. 8, 191a.

Application filed January 28, 1915. Serial No. 4 834.

To all whom it may concern: 7

Be it known that I, LEWIS L. RosnRs, a citizen of the United States, andresident of Orange, in the county of Franklinand State of Massachusetts,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Sheet- Gages forPrinting-Presses, Of\Vl1lCl1 the following is a specification.

The present invention relates to gages for printing presses andparticularly to an endgage for a one-cylinder, two-revolution press inwhich the cylinder is movable up and down relatively to a horizontallyreciprocating form and bed. In presses of this type, the individualsheets tobe printed are usually fed by hand on a feed table against anend-gage, the sheets usually being fed in a direction substantiallyparallel to the axis of the cylinder, and the end-gage being so disposedas to gage the front end of the sheet, that is, the edge of the sheetwhich is disposed at right angles to the direction of feed of the sheet.Such a gage is, therefore, termed herein an end-gage.' In a 7 press ofthis type, there are also provided suitable side gages which aredesigned to gage the side of the sheet, or that edge of the sheet whichis parallel to the direction of feed and substantially at right anglesto the edge of the sheet gaged by the endgage. v The principal object ofthe invention to provide a novel form of end-gage which is automaticallymovable to its working po sition and which is capable during itsmovement of so shifting the position of the sheet that it will bebrought into contact witl all of the side gages, thereby producingperfect registry of the sheet.

A further object of the invention is to provide an end-gage, the partsof which are constructed in a novel manner to effect the automaticmovement of the gage in a simple and effective manner. Furthermore, the

parts of the gage are so constructed as to render the gage reversible,that is, the gage may be used at either side of-the feed table bychanging the position of certain parts of the gage to adapt the same foruse at the other side of the press.

The invention is illustrated in the accomported thereby; Fig. 2 is abroken transverse section taken on the line22 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a planview of the end-gage; Fig. 4 is a side elevation of theconstruction shown in Fig. 8; and Fig. 5 is a horizontal section taken,on the line 55 of Fig. 4, illustrating a detail of construction.

In the drawing, the letter A indicates a portion of the feed table ofthe press, the cylinder of whichis indicated at B. In the type of pressillustrated, that is, a one-cylinder, two-revolution press, thecylinder'B moves bodily up and down, in the wellknown manner, tocooperate with a horizontally reciprocating form and bed. Mounted in thecylinder is the usual rock shaft C carrying a series'of grippers. D forgripping the edge of the sheet and carrying it around with the cylinder,inthe usual manner. The grippers D are actuated by the customary cam Ecarried by the end of the rock shaft and the sliding pin F actuated bythe cam G. i

The side gages of the press are indicated at H, and so far as thepresent invention is concerned, it is immaterial what the specificconstruction of these gages is. As the improved end-gage may be used incombination with any type of side gage, whether.

the same be stationary or automatically movable, the specificconstruction of the gages H will not be described.

In the type of press herein illustrated,

the cylinder B moves up and down, as hereinbefore stated, and movesbodily with a frame I, in which is mounted the press-rod J runningtransversely across the press longitudinally of thecylinder. Relativelystationary upstanding portions K, of a suitable part of the press frame,carries a pressrod L, and the relative movement between the press-rod Jand the pressrod L, caused by the vertical movement of the cylinder andframe I, is utilized for actuating the end-gage, as will hereinafterappear.

The end-gage itself comprises abase-plate 1 having severallongitudinally disposed slots or openings 2, by means. of which thebase-plate 1 may be secured to the feed table by means of bolts or othersuitable fastening devices 3. The slots 2 permit bodily adjustment ofthe base-plate 1 on the feed table A, in an obvious manner.

The base-plate 1 has cast integral therewith,-

a couple of upstandingportions L servingas bearings for a cylindricalsleeve 5, which longitudinally slidable in openings 6 provided in saidupstanding portions 4. The

sleeve 5 carries a collar 7 which is rigidly fastened to said sleeve bymeans of a set screw 8. The collar 7 carries an upstanding portion 9,which is centrally perforated to permit passage therethrough of athreaded adjusting rod 10, the purpose of which will be presentlydescribed. The collar 7 also carries a depending lug 11 having anopening therein through which a guide rigidly carried by the rearupstanding bearing portion 4, passes. In the present instance, thisguide comprises a small cylindrical pin 12, on which the lug 11 isadapted to slide. By this construction, the sleeve 5 and collar 7 areabsolutely held against turning move ments about the axis of the sleeve5.

Passing through the sleeve 5 and co-aXially disposed with respectthereto is a stem 13, which carries, at its forward end, a block 14:,through which passes a gage-rod 15 disposed substantially at rightangles to the stem 13. The gagerod 15 is adjustably mounted in the block1st and may be shifted longitudinally of itself in said block. It isheld in its adjusted position by means of a set screw 16. The adjustingrod 10, hereinbefore mentioned, has a horizontally disposed portionwhich passes through the upward extension 9 of the collar 7, as abovestated, and a downwardly directed extremital portion 17, which isrigidly secured to the block 14. Adjusting and lock nuts 18 are threadedon the adjusting rod 10 and cooperate with the adjacent faces of theupstanding portion 9 to adjust the position of the rod 10 and to lockthe same in adjusted position, in an obvious manner. When the rod 10 isso adjusted, it obviously adjusts the, position of the stem 13 in thesleeve 5, and when the rod 10 is locked to the upstanding portion 9, thestem 13 is in locked relation with the sleeve 5. Under these conditions,the sleeve 5, stem 13, collar 7, rod 10 and gage-rod 15 will all movebodily in unison in the upstanding bearing portions 14.

The gage-rod 15 carries, at one side of the block 14, the gage proper19, which may be of any suitable construction, but preferably consistsof a block 20 through which the gage-rod 10 passes, and to which it isadjustably secured by means of the set screw 21. The block 20 hassecured thereto, the gage face 22'and the customary spring guard 23. Theother end of the gage-rod 15 carries a block 24 adjustably secured tothe gagerod by means of a set screw 25 and carrying a roller 26, whichrolls along the surface of the feed table and supports the adjacent endof the gage-rod in a suiiiciently elevated position to assure the gage19 at the opposite end thereof being held in close contact with the feedtable to prevent accidental slipping of the sheets under said gage. Inorder to assure such contact of the gage with the feed table undervarying conditions, there is preferably provided a vertically adjustable connection between the block 2& and the roller 26, thisconnection as here shown comprising a stem 26 carrying the roller 26 andbeing adjustably secured to the block 24 within a vertical openingtherein by means of a set-screw 26". It will be noted that the gage 19and the roller block 24& may not only be adjusted to any position alongthe gage-rod, but they may be entirely removed and interchanged, in themanner hereinafter described.

The movement of the gage 19 to its working position is preferablyeffected as follows. The base-plate 1 of the gage pivotally carries abell -crank lever 27 pivotally mounted on the base-plate bymeans of theremovable screw 28. One arm of the bell-crank lever 27 engages behindthe depending lug 11 of the sleeve 7, as best shown in Figs. 3 and 5,and the extremity of the other arm of the bell-crank lever lies adjacentthe extremity of a guide 29, through which passes an actuating rod 30.When the rod 30 is moved longitudinally, it is obvious that thebellcrank lever will be swung around its pivot and the depending lug 11moved to the dotted line position shown in Fig. 5. This effects aunitary movement of the collar 7, sleeve 5, rod 10 and stem 13, togetherwith the gage-rod 15 and the gage proper 19. This movement is yieldinglyresisted, however, by means of a coil spring 31 interposed between theforward upstanding portion l of the baseplate 1 and the collar 7. Thisspring serves to return the parts to their normal position after eachactuation of the gage.

.The actuating rod 30 is pivotally connected at 32, (Fig. l), to a stem33 which telescopes in'to the main actuating rod 3-1 and is adjustablyheld therein by means of the set screw 35. Referring particularly toFig. 2, it will be seen that the main actuating rod 34- is pivotallyconnected at 36 to a sleeve 37 loosely mounted upon the pressrod L. Therelatively movable press-rod J carries a sleeve 38, which is rigidlysecured to its press-rod by means of a set screw 39. The collar 38 isprovided with two for wardly projecting cheeks 39 between which passes apin or roller 40, which engages in a slot 41 provided in a rearwardlyprojecting portion on the sleeve 37. By this construction, it is obviousthat as the cylinder B and frame I, together with the movable press-rodJ, move from the dotted line position shown in Fig. 2, to the full lineposition, the sleeve 37 will be rocked or shifted from its dotted lineposition shown in Fig. 2 to the full line position, and the actuatingrod 34: will, therefore, be shifted longitudinally to the right in thedrawings. This will produce a longitudinal movement of the actuating rod30 in the guide 29 and a movement of the bellcran-k lever 27 to effectthe movement of the gage, in the manner hereinbefore described.

In operation, a sheet is fed in. a direction substantially parallel tothe axis of the cylinder toward the end-gage until the front edge of thesheet comes into contact with the gage face of the gage. As thecylinderrises, the parts of the end gage are actuated, as above described, sothat the end-gage is shifted toits working position. It will be notedthat the end-gage is so positioned as to engage either to one side. orthe other of the central longitudinal axis of the sheet. As the gage,however, is adjustable with re spect to the gage-rod 15 andinterchangeable with respect to the roller block 24, it may be made toengage with the sheet at any point along the front edge thereof. When itis made to engage with one side or the other of the front edge of thesheet, the sheet will not only be removed bodily backward, but one endthereof will be shifted in a lateral direction, so that if the side edgeof the sheet is not engaging with all of the side gages, the movement ofthe end gage will shift the sheet into proper engagement with all of theside gages. In other words, as the sheet is moved by the end-gage, ithas imparted thereto a slight turning move- .ment which has the effectof bringing the side edge of the sheet into engagement with all of theside gages. It will be found that there exists a certain point along thefront edge of the sheet where the end-gage, if made to contact with thesheet at this point, will produce just enough turning movement of thesheet to bring the same into proper contact with the side gages.

The construction of the end-gage above described not only permits ofnumerous adjustments, but the entire gage is reversible, that is, it maybe used at the other side of the food table when it is desired to feedthe sheets in a direction opposite to the direc tion of feed indicatedby the arrow, in Fig. 1. For this purpose, the bell-crank lever 27 ismade reversible, so that it can be mounted at the other side of thebase-plate 1., a second opening 42 being provided in the baseplate forthis purpose. Fig. 5 shows, in

dotted lines, the position which the bell-.

crank lever will assume when pivotally mounted at 42. The actuating rod30 will then, of course, be made to enter the guide 29 from the otherside thereof, as further i11- dicated in dotted lines at 30 in Fig. 5,.When the position of the base-plate 1 is so transferred from one side ofthe feed table to the other, as indicated in dotted lines in Fig. 1, itwill also be necessary to interchange the gage 19 and roller block 24,if it is still desirable to have the gage 1 9 engage with the edge ofthe sheet to the press side of the longitudinal center line of thesheet.

The actuating sleeves 37 and 38 mounted on the press-rods .may bereadily shifted to their new positions indicated in dotted lines in Fig.1, or, if desired, additional sleeves may be provided at this side ofthe press and the original sleeves 37 and 38 left undisturbed.

Although the improved end-gage has been illustrated and described incombine tion with a printing-press of the one-cylinder, two revelutiontype, it is obvious. that it may be as satisfactorily used on othertypes of presses, and on machines other than printing presses where aproper registry of the sheet is necessary. Furthermore, the gage neednot necessarily beused as an endgage, as obviously it will functioninthe 7 same manner if used in other relations.

Numerous modifications and changes may be made in the details ofconstruction and operation without departing from the spirit or scope ofthe, invention, asdefined in the accompanying claims. What I claim isV 1. In a printing press, the combination with a feed table from eitherend of which a sheet may be fed toward an end gage, of a base plateremovably supported by the feed table at one end thereof, a movable endgage associated with said "base-plate, and actuating means for the gagepartly carried by the base-plate, said base-plate and end gage beingtransferable to the'other end of bell-crank lever being transferable toa new position on the base-plate, for the purpose described.

3. The combination with the feed table of printing presses and similarmachines, of a sheet gage comprising a base-plate re movably secured tosaid feed table, a movable gage proper associated with said baseplate,and actuating means for said movable gage comprising a movable elementmounted on said base-plate, and means whereby said element may betransferred to a new position on said base-plate to permit the gage tobe used at either side of the feed table.

4. The combination with the feed table of a printingpress or similarmachine, of a base-plate mounted on said food table, a movable gageproper supported from said base-plate, a rod slidably mounted Onggid.

basepla;te and to which the'gage is secured,

and a bell-crank lever pivotally mounted on the base-plate adapted to beactuated from a movable part of the machine, said baseplate with thegage, rod and bell-crank lever supported thereby being removable as aunit from the feed table, for the purpose described.

5. The combination with the feed table of a printing press or similarmachine, of a baseplate removably mounted on the feed table, a movablegage proper associated with the base-plate, means for mounting the mov-.

able gage on the base-plate comprising a rod movable longitudinally withrespect to the base-plate, an actuating rod movable transversely withrespect tothe base-plate, connecting means between said rods, and meanswhereby said connecting means may be pivoted to the base-plate at eitherone of two places in each of which the connecting means operativelyconnects said rods Whereby the operative relation between the parts maybe maintained when the base-plate is mounted at either side of the feedtable.

6. The combination with the feed table of a printing press'or similarmachine, of a base-plate removably mounted thereon, a movable gageproper associated with the base-plate, actuating means for said movablegage, connecting means between the actuatingmeans and said movable gage,and means whereby said connecting means may be pivoted to the base-plateat either of two places in each of which the connecting meansoperatively connects the actuating means with the movable gage tomaintain the operative relation between the actuating means and themovable gage when the base-plate is mounted at either side of the feedtable.

7. The combination with the feed table of a jrinting press or similarmachine, of a base-plate removably mounted on said feed table, asubstantially T-shaped movable gage rod mounted on said base-plate,actuating means for said gage rod, connecting means between saidactuating means and the gage rod, said connecting means beingtransferable to a new position on the aseplate to maintain the operativerelation between the actuating means and the gage rod when thebase-plate is used at either side of the feed table, and a movable gageproper removably and adjustably carried by that portion of the T-shapedgage rod which is substantially parallel to the edge of the sheet to begaged whereby said movable gage proper may be adjusted or transferred toits proper position on the rod when the base-plate is changed from oneside of the feed table to the other.

8., A sheet gage for printing presses and similar machines, comprising abase-plate, a stem mounted for longitudinal movements with respect tothe base-plate, a gage rod disposed substantially at right angles tosaid stem, an adjustable connection between said stem and said rod topermit adjustment of the rod transversely of the stem, a movable gageproper adjustably carried by said rod, and means to actuate said rod.

9. The combination with the feed table of a printing press or similarmachine, of a sheet gage comprising a base-plate remov ably andadjustably mounted on the feed table, a stem mounted for longitudinalmovements with respect to the base-plate, a gage rod disposedsubstantially at right angles to said stem, an adjustable connectionbetween said stem and said rod, a mov able gage proper adjustably andremovably carried by said rod, and operative connec tions between saidstem and a moving part of the press for actuating the movable gage, saidconnections. being adjustable, for the purpose described.

10. The combination with a printing press and the feed table therefor,of a sheet comprising agage-rod, means supporting said rod at a pointbetween the ends thereof, a gage proper carried by said rod at one endfor contact with the feed table, and means cooperative with said rod atits opposite end to hold saidgage in contact with the feed table.

11. The combination with a printing press and the feed table therefor,of a sheet gage comprising a gage-rod, means supporting said rod at apoint between the ends thereof, a gage proper carried by said rod at oneend for contact with the feed table, and a roller carried by said rod atits opposite end in engagement with the feed table and supporting therod with the gage thereon in contact with said table.

12. The combination with a printing press and the feed table therefor,of a sheet gage comprising a gage-rod, means supporting said rod at apoint between the ends thereof, a gage proper carried by said rod at oneend for contact with the feed table, a roller carried by said red at itsopposite end in engagement with the feed table and supporting the rodwith the gage thereon in contact with said table, and means forvertically adjusting the rod relatively to the roller adjacent itsconnection therewith.

Signed at Orange, in the county of Frank lin, and State ofMassachusetts, this 26th day of January A. D. 1915.

LEWIS L. ROGERS. lVit-nesses:

GLADYS S. SANDERS, ROY W. FRENCH.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five centseaeh, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents.

' Washington, D. C.

